Chapter 11

When I arrived, the sun was just rising over the Elemental Expanse, bathing the lands in pink and blue light. From the deck of the airship, I had a marvelous view of the expanse. At its center lay Mount Cornerstone, and atop that peak, the Legion fortress of Storm Castle. Beyond the inner ring of magic that surrounded the mountain were the four lands of the Elemental Expanse, each domain under the protection of one of the four Dragons, Legion soldiers who possessed extraordinary elemental magic.

Fire and stone dominated the Fire Mountains. Lightning crackled on the Sky Plains. Water, snow, and ice thrived in the Wetlands. And the power of earth and flora trembled and blossomed across the Desert Rose.

A Legion base also lay in Desert Rose, right at the northern border of the expanse, where only a Magitech wall stood between humanity and the Western Wilderness that had consumed a larger piece of the continent.

My airship was heading toward the base at Desert Rose now, the site of the disaster. The golden shimmer on the wall told me the Magitech barrier was up, which was good news considering the herds of monsters currently standing before it, waiting for it to go down so they could break past this last barrier and ravage the lands of human civilization.

"I have to go check it out," I said to my cat Angel.

She meowed.

"No, you wait here."

The kitten narrowed her bright blue eyes at me.

"It's just not practical to fly with a cat in my arms."

She turned around and walked away from me, her tail high in the air. I knew Angel wasn't happy with me. She really didn't appreciate being left behind. I'd have to find a way to make it up to her later.

For now, I swung my legs over the rail and jumped down from the edge of the ship. My wings caught the wind. I hovered there for a moment, my feathers rustling, then I dove toward the ground. I loved flying, feeling as wild and free as nature itself.

My flight was over far too soon. I landed beside Leila Starborn, who was busy checking out the Magitech wall outside the base. Colonel Starborn was the Angel of Storm Castle and the Fire Dragon. It was her link to the Earth's fire magic—and her link to the other three Dragons—which kept our world's elements in harmony.

"I was wondering when you'd get here, Leda," she said, turning away from the wall to greet me.

Leila had turquoise eyes that shone like a tropical ocean and long, silky hair the color of a vibrant sunset. Matching sunset accents kissed her white-and-gold wings. Her cheekbones were high and her eyelashes thick and long. It wasn't hard to see how she'd come by her unofficial title: angel hottie of the Legion. She had more admirers than I had snarky remarks, but her heart belonged solely to Basanti Somerset.

"Glad to see you're all right," I said to Leila. "Since the disaster, we haven't been able to contact Storm Castle or the Desert Rose base."

"The problems with the Magitech barrier seem to have wreaked havoc on most devices, especially phones," she replied. "They sometimes work. But usually they don't."

I looked around. "What exactly happened?"

"I haven't yet received the full report. I just landed here and wanted to first check out the Magitech barrier for myself."

"Then let's go pay Major Horn a visit together," I said.

We walked through the gate, entering the base. The Desert Rose base was very barebones for a Legion stronghold. In fact, it resembled an old Frontier town more than anything. A stone wall covered in barbed wire surrounded two rows of buildings that lay on either side of a single dirt road. An uneven breeze blew sand and tumbleweed across the ground. The big building at the end of the road was blanketed in both.

Major Horn was there. As soon as he saw us, he quickly moved to meet us. I'd met him before, back when I'd taken part in my elemental training at Storm Castle. He was a very orderly man dressed in a neat uniform. Today he was wearing a pair of glasses that he hadn't had on last time. Since Legion soldiers had better-than-perfect vision, his eyewear was clearly just for appearances. And I had to admit that the glasses did make him look particularly sage.

I considered teasing him about his new eyewear. Leila must have read my intentions in my eyes because she quickly spoke before I could.

"What happened here, Major?" she asked him.

"We've been having minor fluctuations in our Magitech barrier for about a week. None of my technical staff were able to figure out the source of the problem."

Leila nodded. "That's why I sent you two witches, specialists in Magitech barriers."

"The witches arrived last night," said Major Horn. "It was just after twenty-two hundred hours when they began a diagnostic on the base's Magitech system."

"What did they find?" I asked him.

"Nothing. Five minutes into their diagnostic, several Magitech generators overloaded, opening up a few holes in the barrier. At the same time, a burst of concentrated magical energy pulsed off the controls and hit the two witches, knocking them out instantly."

The Magitech generators packed quite a punch. The witches were lucky to be alive.

"And the barrier?" Leila asked him.

"My technicians made it to the control room and managed to seal the holes in the barrier before the monster horde made it through." He turned and looked toward a small town that neighbored the base; the town hadn't even existed the last time I'd been here. "One monster, however, did make it out of the Western Wilderness."

"Given the circumstances, a single escaped monster is far better than things could have turned out," said Leila. "Many more could have made it through the holes in the barrier."

He shook his head. "You don't understand, Colonel. "No monsters made it through the holes in the barrier. We already had the barrier back up when that beast scrambled up the Magitech-charged wall. Then it ran across the base and disappeared into town."

"That shouldn't be possible," said Leila. "The barrier is supposed to keep all monsters out."

"That's not all," Major Horn told her. "The monster is still here. It doesn't make any sense. When we sealed all holes in the Magitech barrier, its magic should have vaporized any monsters still inside its borders."

"There have been monsters on this side of the wall before." I looked at Leila.

"That was different, Leda." She frowned at the reminder of her earlier unsanctioned experiments. "Those monsters were engineered to have a perfect light-dark magic balance. The beasts that hail from the plains of monsters are not balanced."

"Maybe this one is," I suggested. "I guess we'll figure that out when we find it." I turned to Major Horn. "Though I'm surprised you haven't found it already."

"We tried." He looked embarrassed. "But we couldn't find the monster. You see, it can make itself invisible."

An invisible monster? Who could also survive on this side of the wall? That sounded like a recipe for double trouble.

"The beast was last seen in Inspiration." He pointed at the neighboring town.

Ever since I'd been named the Angel of the Plains of Monsters, ever since the founding of the first-ever Legion Frontier office a few weeks ago, there had been a noticeable shift in the population. Towns along the Magitech border were growing. And new towns had been popping up all across the Frontier. People said the Frontier was the place to be, a place of opportunity, where a bright new future was just over the horizon.

Inspiration, the town beside the Legion's Desert Rose base, was one of these new towns. Even its name reflected the people's optimism and faith in the new Frontier. Historically, Frontier names had always had dark and dour names. Take my own home town of Purgatory, for example. I was glad the people of the new Frontier were so full of hope.

Unfortunately, that hope was being thoroughly tested already. I had to hunt down that monster before it killed anyone—and before people here fell back into despair.

"I'll take care of your monster," I told Major Horn.

"We will take care of it together," Leila amended, giving me an encouraging smile.

And with that settled, we left Major Horn here to supervise the remaining Magitech repairs.

"How does one hunt an invisible monster?" Leila wondered as we set out toward Inspiration.

"Well, I guess we can either patrol the area, waiting for it to attack," I said. "Or we can try to flush it out of hiding."

"And how do you suggest we flush it out?"

"Explosions usually work pretty well."

Her brows drew together. "You want to blow up the town?"

"Not the town. The monster." I rolled my eyes at her. "Leila, I know how to make a lot of noise without destroying public property."

"Your mission reports would suggest otherwise."

I sighed. "Reports of my recklessness have been greatly exaggerated."

"That's not what Nero says."

"Right now, Nero isn't saying anything."

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind." I shook my head. "Pretend I didn't say anything."

We'd passed beyond the base, into Inspiration. The town only consisted of about fifty makeshift houses—some of them on wheels—but it wasn't a bad start to a new Frontier. There were several dirt roads through the town, a flower garden, and even a playground for the kids. This was the kind of place that had to be protected and nurtured so it could grow, spreading hope throughout the Frontier—and throughout the whole world, for that matter.

"What happened between you and Nero?" Leila asked me.

"What makes you think something happened between us?"

"When I mentioned his name, you looked like someone had just stuck a needle through your eye."

"We had a fight."

She waited for me to continue.

"He's disappointed that my Fever cycle was not successful. And, well, I'm kind of relieved it wasn't." I glanced at the playground as we passed by it. "The world isn't a safe place for children right now."

"I understand."

"My relief? Or Nero's disappointment?"

"Both." Leila paused for a moment, as though she were debating something with herself, then she pressed forward. "You know I was married once?"

"Yes."

"He was a good man and a good friend, but I didn't love him in that way. I was glad when the Legion granted us a release from the marriage they'd assigned to us. And yet…" Leila met my eyes. "A part of me still regrets that I never got to be a mother." She sighed, and her proud stance slouched a little, like a heavy weight had pressed down on her shoulders. "It wasn't only a small part of me either. The world is a dangerous place. I know this. Nero knows it too, you know. But that doesn't stop us from wanting what we want. I suppose we hope we will be strong enough to protect our children."

"Hope is a poor shield," I said. Especially, when every deity in all the known realms would try to kill or control our child."

"But love is the best shield you can have," Leila told me. "And the best sword too. If that love is strong enough, it can weather any spell and topple any empire."

A cautious smile stretched my mouth. "I never knew you were such a romantic, Leila."

"I have my moments." She pressed her finger to her smiling lips in a shushing gesture. "But don't tell anyone."

I opened my mouth to respond, but snapped it shut again when a low, deep humming noise drew my attention. I took a right at the next intersection and followed the noise to the end of the street. There were two twelve-year-old boys there, standing on a concrete slab inside a large supply yard. Stacks of bricks and piles of metal rails were all around them, along with countless other building supplies. With these parts, the town would be able to slowly replace their temporary dwellings with sturdy houses.

At the moment, however, the two boys seemed more interested in using the supply yard as a playground hideout than its value in building for a better future. They stood inside a chalk-drawn grid, playing some kind of game with a small bouncing ball.

A shadow was closing in on them. I couldn't see the monster—or even its dark shadow. I could feel its presence, though, in the goosebumps that rippled across my skin. And I could hear it in the ominous hum that grew louder the closer I drew toward the boys. The monster was here. And it was very close. But where? I turned slowly, trying to find something, some ripple in the air or smell of blood and beast that would help me pinpoint its location. Because I was very certain of one thing: if I didn't stop the monster, it would kill those boys.

"I need you two to walk slowly toward me," I said to the boys in a quiet but commanding voice. "Then you need to take the street behind me and get out of here."

"Hey, that's Leda Pandora," said the boy with the red cap.

The other boy's eyes went wide. "Think she'll sign my Legion card deck?"

"I will sign all the cards you want if you just do as I say." I snatched up a handful of broken concrete chunks from the ground. "Come on now. Slowly."

"Why?"

"There's a monster in the area," I told them.

Their eyes scanned the supply yard.

"I don't see any monster." Red Cap frowned.

"It's a special monster. It's invisible."

"Cool," gasped the Legion card collector.

I waited until the boys were behind me before I threw the first stone. It clanged against a pile of steel rods, but there was no sign of monster movement. I was aiming the second when Leila stopped by my side.

"Recruiting them a bit young, aren't you, Pandora?" Her voice was peppered with amusement.

I snorted. "Get lost on the way here, Starborn?"

"I thought I heard something, so I followed it. But it was only the wind." Leila watched me bounce a stone off another stack of metal parts. "I thought you wanted to lure it out with explosions."

"Oooh, cool," cooed Red Cap.

"I want to see you blow up lots of things," added the Legion card collector.

I pivoted around and leveled a commanding stare their way. "I am not going to blow up lots of things."

Red Cap frowned in obvious disappointment. "Why not?"

"Yeah, what gives?" The Legion card collector folded his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at me. "I thought you were Leda Pandora, the Angel of Chaos. The Angel of Chaos always blows up things."

Leila's face was blank, but laughter flashed in her eyes. I considered sticking my tongue out at her, but that wouldn't have accomplished anything. And, besides, I couldn't act childish in front of my fans.

"The Angel of Chaos does not blow up places where people live," I told the boys, not altogether unconcerned that I was now referring to myself in the third person.

"No one lives in this supply yard," Red Cap pointed out.

"And, anyway, you have blown up places where people live."

"Like half of Storm Castle."

"And parts of Purgatory."

"And a whole airship."

"And—"

"Ok, that's enough, you smart asses," I growled at them.

They responded with big, adoring grins, as though I'd just bestowed them with a blessing.

"I think you two should head home now," I continued. "Your parents must be worried about you."

"They're not," said the Legion card collector.

"And we want to see you smite a monster," added Red Cap, rocking back and forth so fervently on his feet that I thought he might burst from excitement.

"Scram, kiddos, or I'll smite you." I forced a burst of silver magic to flash inside my eyes.

Red Cap grinned from ear to ear. "Will you really? Oh, please! I've never been smited by an angel before."

"It's ‘never been smitten', not ‘smited'," the Legion card collector told him.

"You are the one smitten with Leda Pandora." Red Cap took on a high-pitched squeak, what I could only guess was supposed to be reminiscent of his friend's voice. "Oh, Angel of Chaos, will you sign my playing car? Oh, Angel of Chaos, I looove you always."

I dropped my rocks and grabbed the boys by their collars. I lifted them over my head. I was tempted to clunk their heads together too, but they were human and I was worried I might give them a concussion.

"Ok, here's how this is going to play out," I told them coolly. "When I put you down, you're going to run straight home as fast as your legs can carry you. Otherwise, I'm going to use you as bait to lure the monster out of hiding. And then, if you miraculously survive that, I'm going to charge you with impeding an official Legion investigation. Got it?"

"Got it," Red Cap said meekly.

The Legion card collector nodded vigorously. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good."

I put the boys down. Thankfully, they didn't call my bluff. As soon as their feet hit the ground, they were off.

"I can't believe she threatened to feed us to the monster!" Red Cap shouted to his friend.

"I know!" replied the Legion card collector. "This is so cool! We were threatened by the Angel of Chaos!"

"But no one will ever believe us! We should have taken a video!"

"Wanna turn back and see if she'll threaten us again?!"

I launched a fire ball in their direction, aiming it just close enough to make them think twice about coming back. The boys yelped, then ran away faster.

Leila watched them go. "Leda, you sure have a way with children."

I sighed.

"I think the monster ran off too," she said.

I turned in a slow circle. "It went that way." I pointed deeper into the supply yard.

"How do you know?"

"Just following the stench of burning oil."

"The monster smells like burning oil?"

"Yeah." I grabbed some more rocks. "Can't you smell it?"

"No."

"Well, then I guess I'm just crazy."

Leila laughed. "Basanti is right. There's never a dull moment with you."

"I wish I could believe that's a compliment."

She laughed again. "Let's just take care of this monster before any more of your fans find you."

We walked until the monster's scent trail stopped outside a pair of wooden outhouses. I wasn't sure if the monster was really here. The odors wafting out of numerous cracks in the outhouse walls were interfering with my nose. I threw around a few rocks just to be sure.

An enraged snarl told me I'd hit something other than construction materials. Paws pounded across the ground, and a pile of crates toppled over. I aimed my next rock at the spilled crates, soliciting another snarl from the invisible monster. We were close. As I moved in, Leila circled around to approach it from behind.

I signaled Leila. She fired off a stream of fire. It hit the monster, lighting it up for a moment. That gave me a good look at what we were dealing with, and the sight wasn't pretty. The yellow-eyed monster looked like a behemoth panther coated in massive metal plates.

I grabbed a metal pole and whacked it over the head. Or at least that was the part I'd been aiming for. The beast dodged so fast that my pole hit one of the outhouses instead—and took out a chunk of the wall instead.

The monster charged at Leila, tackling her into a stack of bricks. I shot off a telekinetic blast that knocked it off of her. The beast shook itself, then it went invisible again. I couldn't see it anymore, but I could feel the ground quaking under my feet as it charged at me. I braced to meet its advance.

"Hit it with fire again, Leila!" I shouted.

This time when she lit up the monster, I knew what to expect. The moment it went visible, I threw an explosive potion at it. The resulting explosion knocked off several of its armor plates. I launched three more potions in quick succession. Two of them hit the beast, but one missed. Instead, the potion bottle shattered against a digger, blowing the vehicle's door clear off.

The monster spun around and jumped at me. It wasn't invisible anymore. Our attacks must have damaged it enough to neutralize that ability. Thank goodness. It was much easier to fight something when you could actually see it coming.

But this fight wasn't over yet. The monster launched a swarm of magic discs at us. They exploded like firebombs on impact. Metal poles, bricks, and heavy machinery shrapnel shot in every direction. The outhouses exploded. Leila and I ducked for cover behind what remained of the digger.

The monster kept moving. It launched its catlike body high in the air and body-slammed Leila to the ground. I grabbed its tail and gave it a hard heave. That got its attention. It turned away from Leila and came at me now. When it launched itself in the air, I knew what was coming. I drew my sword and hoped it would be enough. As the monster slammed into me, I thrust my blade into a gap between two armor plates. The beast landed on top of me.

I must have killed it because it wasn't moving at all anymore. But neither was I. The monster was so heavy that not even my supernatural strength was enough to free myself.

"Leda?" Leila's voice called out from beyond the dead monster.

"Here."

"You're alive?"

I chuckled. "Try not to sound so disappointed."

Psychic energy rippled across the monster's body. It rose a few inches off the ground—then hammered back down. I groaned in pain.

"Are you all right?" Leila asked me.

"Not really."

"The monster is too heavy to lift with telekinesis. I'm going to try something else."

In the end, Leila had to use a massive construction crane to get the monster off of me.

"Not the most spectacular end to the fight," I commented when I was finally on my feet again.

"The monster is dead, and the Earth is safe again. That's what matters."

I glanced down at the metal-plated panther. "I wonder how it was able to survive on this side of the barrier."

"I don't know." She shook her head. "But when I get it back to my lab, I'm going to find out."

"You might need to rethink that plan, Leila. I doubt that gigantic monster would fit in your lab. And I have no idea how you're going to get it all the way back to Storm Castle and up the mountain."

"You're right." She glanced up at the crane. "But I can get it to the Desert Rose base. I hope Major Horn doesn't mind my turning one of his storage facilities into a laboratory."

* * *

I leftLeila and the dead monster behind at Desert Rose and boarded my airship. As I flew back toward Purgatory, Leila's voice echoed in my mind.

A part of me still regrets that I never got to be a mother.

I couldn't shake her words.

The world is a dangerous place. But that doesn't stop us from wanting what we want.

Around and around, those words circled in my head. I supposed I didn't want to shake them. Maybe I wanted to torture myself. Or maybe a part of me really agreed with her.

Love is the best shield you can have. And the best sword too. If that love is strong enough, it can weather any spell and topple any empire.

I was so tired. Like a lullaby, the memory of Leila's words sang me to sleep.

When I woke up, I knew several hours had passed because I could see Purgatory in the distance, waiting to welcome me home. Nero was out there somewhere. I wished he would welcome me home too.

Sighing, I pressed a button on my armrest, and a large television slowly dropped from the ceiling. As the screen flickered on, Angel jumped onto the seat beside mine. She meowed at me.

I scratched her under her chin. "Glad you're speaking to me again."

She purred.

"If only Nero were as reasonable as you."

She folded one paw primly over the other.

"My thoughts exactly," I told her. "If he doesn't want to talk to us, then we don't want to talk to him. And good riddance."

She stared at me.

"Yes, I am aware that I can't bullshit you, Angel. But it's easier to pretend I don't care that Nero's mad at me, you know?"

She nudged my hand with her pink nose.

I petted her head. "I knew you'd understand."

A flash of familiar images on the television screen caught my eye. I tapped the controls on the armrest to increase the volume.

"Late last night, a system overload resulted in numerous holes opening up in the Magitech barrier at Desert Rose," said a melodramatic male voiceover. "No citizen need be reminded that these barriers are all that stand between us and total annihilation."

"If no one needs to be reminded, then why is he reminding people?" I asked Angel.

She licked her paw, then shook her head. Obviously, she completely agreed with me.

"But for those viewers who have not seen over those walls, here's a taste of what lies beyond," said the reporter.

Images of old city ruins flashed across the screen. There were overhead shots of large monster herds. And extreme closeups of monsters' snarling jaws. Whoever had taken those shots had gotten really close to actual, real-life monsters.

They were insane. Monsters were dangerous and they killed people. But these people had cared more about getting newsworthy, shocking images than they cared about their own lives.

"Earlier today, one of these terrible monsters broke past the Magitech border at Desert Rose and invaded the nearby Frontier town of Inspiration."

The reporter was more than a voiceover now. He was on screen, wearing a green t-shirt and a pair of brown shorts, along with a very big outdoor hat. The outfit wasn't much different than the Legion's wilderness uniform.

"Not long ago, Inspiration was a bright beacon of hope on the Frontier," said the reporter. "But now, it is little more than ruins."

The camera switched to a shot of the wilderness reporter standing in front of the supply yard where Leila and I had fought the armored panther just hours ago.

"But it wasn't a monster that destroyed Inspiration," he said. "It was Leda Pandora, the so-called Angel of Chaos. Her recklessness destroyed this once-flourishing town."

The screen played a montage of scenes from today's fight. They showed the exploding crates. They showed my potions knocking the door off the digger. They showed the piles of construction debris. They showed me hacking heavy metal plates off the monster, and those plates smashing through fences and houses. They showed roofs on fire. They even showed the damn outhouses exploding.

"The incident at Desert Rose has been labeled an unmitigated disaster," continued the reporter.

"Labeled by you," I growled at the screen. "Because disasters bring higher ratings."

"Many are questioning whether Leda Pandora was promoted too early. They question if she was truly good enough to ascend to her new position among the angels. And after today's events, everyone is looking back at her past successes with a skeptical eye."

I jumped to my feet and shouted at the reporter, "You are not everyone!"

Angel growled at the screen in a sign of solidarity.

I patted her head in appreciation.

"The question on everyone's mind right now is: were Leda Pandora's victories well-earned, or was it all the result of sheer dumb luck?" A sardonic smile twisted his lips. "Within just a few short weeks of becoming an angel, she's already accumulated many titles, including the Angel of Chaos, the Angel of Purgatory, and the Angel of the Plains of Monsters. Will this black sheep of the Legion now add ‘Barbarian Angel' and ‘Berserker Angel' to her name?"

More images of our fight with the monster flashed across the screen, each one more incendiary than the last.

"That monster would have killed everyone in town if we hadn't taken it down," I snapped at the reporter.

"Is this angel worthy of the gods' love? Or will they stomp her out?"

The montage ended with a shot of the monster falling dead on top of me.

If I could have pulled the remote out of the armrest, I would have thrown it at the television. But as it was, my next best option was to simply glower at the screen.

The program switched to an advertisement for ‘Angel Weddings', Tessa's new party planning business. Wow, my little sister must have really been raking in the dough if she could afford ads at this time of the day, on this channel.

After Tessa's ad, the news returned, thankfully with a different reporter this time. Mr. Incendiary was clearly a first class ass more interested in manufacturing drama than in reporting real news. This other reporter was far more subdued as he talked about supernaturals who had gone missing. No one had seen or heard from them in days, sometimes weeks.

Supernaturals didn't generally get along with other kinds of supernaturals—or, sometimes, with their own kind. So those reports were unfortunately nothing out of the ordinary. The paranormal soldiers were undoubtedly already on the case and maybe the Legion was too. I only hoped they succeeded.

A picture of Lucy replaced the news report on the television. I pressed a button in the armrest to answer her call.

"What's wrong?" I asked Lucy because the look on her face told me something definitely was.

"Major Somerset's team was tracking down a nest of rogue vampires in Purgatory," she replied. "They found the vampires, but they are all dead."

Another regular occurrence, especially out here on the Frontier. Rogue vampires didn't just have to worry about the law; they had to worry about other rogue vampires too.

"Who killed them?" I asked.

"That's just it, Leda. We don't know who killed them, or even how they could have died. The vampires seemed to have been poisoned by the very blood that gives them life."